In the hottest part of the Seventh Month, Shikanosuke—who appeared to be giving no ear at all to the taunts of the world—his family and his retainers were led to his new estate in Suo. They were escorted by several hundred Mori troops who were acting officially as guides but who were really nothing more than guards. Shikanosuke was like a captured tiger that could still turn violent at any time. Before he was caged and accustomed to being fed, his new allies did not feel truly comfortable with him. After a few days' march they came to the Abe River ferry at the foot of Mount Matsu.
Shikanosuke dismounted and sat down on a large rock facing the riverbank.
Amano Kii of the Mori clan dismounted and approached him. He said, "The women and children are poor walkers, so we'll let them cross the river first. Rest here for a little while."
Shikanosuke simply nodded. He had recently become quite reticent, not wanting to waste his words. Kii walked toward the ferry and yelled something to the men on the riverbank. There were only one or two boats. Shikanosuke's wife, son, and retainers piled into them one after another until the boats appeared to be filled with little mountains, and set off for the opposite shore.
Watching the boat, Shikanosuke wiped the sweat from his face and asked his attendant to dip a cloth into the icy water of the river. His only other attendant had led his horse downstream to drink.
Green-winged insects buzzed around Shikanosuke. A pale moon floated in the late afternoon sky. Flowering bindweed crept along the ground.
"Shinza! Hikoemon! Now's your chance!" Kii's eldest son, Motoaki, whispered to two men standing in the shade of a stand of trees where about ten horses were tethered. Shikanosuke did not notice them. The boat carrying his family was almost halfway across the river.
The river wind filled his breast, and the entire scene dazzled his tear-filled eyes. How pitiful, he lamented. As a husband and father, he was heartbroken to think of the fate of his vagabond family.
Even the bravest warrior has feelings, and it was said that Shikanosuke was more sentimental than most men. His courage and chivalrous spirit burned in his eyes with more intensity than the hot summer sun. He had been abandoned by Nobunaga; he had severed his ties with Hideyoshi; he had delivered Kozuki Castle; and then he had presented the head of his lord to his enemies.
And now he was still here, obstinately clinging to life. What were his hopes? What honor did he still have? The world's insults sounded like the chirping of the grasshoppers that surrounded him now. But as he listened while the cool breeze played on his breast, he did not care.
One sorrow
Heaped upon another
Will test my strength to its limits.
This was a poem he had written years before. Now he said it in his heart. He remembered what he had sworn to the mother who had encouraged him when he was young, to his former lord and to heaven, and to the new moon in the empty sky before he went into battle: Give me every obstacle!
Surmounting one after another, he had been able to overcome every obstacle until now. Shikanosuke considered this to be man's greatest pleasure and his own greatest satisfaction.
A hundred obstacles are not in themselves a cause for grief. Advancing through life with this belief, Shikanosuke had tasted great joy in the midst of all his hardships. He had maintained this attitude even when Hideyoshi's messenger told him that Nobunaga had changed strategy. It was true that he had been temporarily discouraged, but he had begrudged no one. Neither had he grieved. Never, not even now, did he sink into despair and think, This is the end. Instead, he burned with hope. I'm still alive, and I'm going to live as long as I continue to breathe! He had one great hope: to get close to his mortal enemy, Kikkawa Motoharu, and die stabbing him to death. After he had snatched away Kikkawa's life, he would rejoice to meet his former lords in the afterworld.
Even though Shikanosuke had surrendered, Kikkawa was not foolish enough to meet him face to face, but politely gave him a castle and sent him on his way. Now Shikanosuke was unhappy, wondering when he might have his chance in the future.
The boat that carried his family and retainers docked on the opposite shore. For a moment his attention was taken by the sight of his family stepping out of the boat in the middle of a large crowd.
Without a sound, a naked blade leaped out from behind Shikanosuke and struck him on the shoulder. At the same time, another blade struck the rock he was sitting on sending sparks flying in all directions. Even a man like Shikanosuke could be taken unawares. Although the blade had cut deep, Shikanosuke jumped up and grabbed the would-be assassin by the topknot.
"Coward!" he shouted.
He had sustained a single sword wound, but his attacker had an accomplice. Seeing his companion in trouble, the second man ran at Shikanosuke, brandishing his sword and yelling, "Prepare yourself to die! It's our lord's command!"
"Bastard!" Shikanosuke spat back in anger. He pushed the first attacker away into his companion, making the second man fall. Seeing his chance, Shikanosuke ran into river, kicking up a huge spray of foam.
"Don't let him escape!" a Mori officer shouted, breaking into a run. He flung his spear with all his might from the bank. It caught Shikanosuke in the back and knocked him face down into the river. The spear shaft stood straight up in the reddening water, like a harpoon stuck in a whale.
The two assassins waded into the river. They dragged the wounded Shikanosuke out by the legs, pinned him down on the riverbank, and cut off his head. Blood ran in rivulets through the small stones on the bank, while the waves of the Abe River almost appeared to be on fire as they rolled back and forth. At the same time, cries and bellowing came from farther up the bank.
"My lord!"
"Lord Shikanosuke!"
Shikanosuke's two attendants began to run toward him, but the Mori had planned for this as well. As soon as they yelled out, they were surrounded by a cage of steel and could go no farther. When they realized that their master had met his end, they fought with all the strength they had, until they followed Shikanosuke into death.
A man's body cannot live forever. An unswerving loyalty and sense of duty, however, will live long in the annals of war. Warriors of later times would say that whenever they looked up and saw the new moon in an indigo-blue evening sky, they would think of Yamanaka Shikanosuke's indomitability and would be struck by feelings of reverence. In their hearts Shikanosuke would live forever.
Shikanosuke's sword and the tea container "Great Ocean" were sent along with his head to Kikkawa Motoharu.
"If we had not struck you down," Kikkawa said as he looked at the head, "you would be holding my head in your hands one day. That is the Way of the Samurai. Having accomplished what you did, you should resign yourself to finding peace in the next world."
* * *
When Hideyoshi's seven thousand five hundred men left Kozuki, it looked as though they would be advancing toward Tajima, but suddenly they turned toward Kakogawa in Harima and joined forces with Nobutada's thirty thousand troops. It was already the end of summer.
Attacked by this large army, both the castles at Kanki and Shikata fell quickly. The only remaining castle was at Miki, the stronghold of the Bessho clan. The battles the Oda fought as they pressed in on Miki Castle seemed to have gone rather easily, but the reaction of fortress after fortress on the first line of Mori defenses had been at the sacrifice of a large number of men. The combined forces of the Oda numbered thirty-eight thousand men, but it was clear that the enemy was going to put up considerable resistance.